topo do mundo

Belo Horizonte, Brazil, at the Top of the World, where we spent all day eating, laughing and enjoying the view. This is the life of Kings!

Bruno, we miss you!

Brasil, you slippery pais

62 hoops, many on fire, several directly preceding kiddie pools full of alligators and/or pirhanas, and all of them needing to be jumped through, in the correct order, please, so that I can go to Brazil and be reunited with the Kings! Totally worth it.

Rio Mendoza

My last day in Mendoza, and they sent me off in style. One more sunny day by the river, with meat, Fernet, and the pinkulele... it doesn´t get better than this.

These Hills are Made of Rainbows

like the sunshine dried the rain so fast
the rainbows dried stuck to the hillside

All pinks and greens and yellows and grey blues. Desert mountains are amazing. These photos can´t show you how beautiful this place really is, covered in tiny plants bursting with life from the smallest trickle of water, from melting snow on the mountain tops.

I went to the mountains, and found a magical place where Jesus brought together Argentina and Texas. It is my own personal heaven.
Wait, that´s not Texas. That´s Chile. Oh. Yeah, the flag confused me for a sec. No, no, it´s fine. Chile is good, too. (Thanks a lot, Jesus)

So, if you count stepping into Chile for a foto, I´ve been to 3 countries this year. But I didn´t play pinkulele there, so I don´t think it counts.

TangoLogia

Pinkulele World Tour, second stop!
I was invited by some Mendoza musicians to play at an artist haven here. It was a long night of wonderful music. The night was warm, so everyone sat outside, under the trees and stars and full moon, drinking vino, cerveza, and Fernet. First, there was the ever present and so dang beautiful tango, this time played by 3 old men who were masters of their craft. Then it was Pinkulele time. I sang a few songs solo, then played a few with Daniela and Patricia, twin sisters who make up the local band Artemis. Then, the fun really started. For me, the best part about getting a bunch of musicians together in a relaxed atmosphere is that they just want to make music! We jammed, uku-tango style, for hours, ending with an amazing improvisation and sing-a-long to ´The Lion Sleeps Tonight´.
Apparently, this is my jamming-on-the-ukulele face. Almost as entertaining as the pinkulele itself...

Aguas termales

It was like a cross between a water park and a day spa...
There were water slides for the niños, and for the adults, hot water served up in various ways: a steam room made out of a cave with a natural hot waterfall running into it, a shallow pool lined with rocks carved to be comfortable to lie on and with cracks to allow hot water to bubble up, pools and soaking tubs ranging from warm to BOILING.
It was my second day of Spanish class and we took a field trip to this magic land with hot pools, a cold river, and beautiful desert mountains towering above. I love school!

Casa Tranquila

It´s nice to be back ¨home¨ in Mendoza. Ahhh, I haven´t been practicing doing nothing enough. (Kings, where are you?) It´s easy to relax in this city, it´s so tranquila. Although, I´m not completely relaxing. This week I´m taking classes in Castellaño, which will be some work. My friends in San Luis really got my brain warmed up, now I´m ready for some serious brain-ercises. Ready? And congugate, two, three, four... en el pasado, two, three, four...

Some of you have been asking about my apartment. Well, YES, you can _absolutely_ come visit! And here are some pictures:

Downstairs: kitchen, dining room, t.v., plants.



Upstairs: bedroom, bathroom, big windows.


Roof: terraza, yoga, mountains, sunshine.